This first of many member stories highlights one amazing member of our community who tackled an off-grid tiny home project.

Miriam has been a member of the Saint John Tool Library since we opened in 2018. It has been a real joy to see her break out into the DIY scene over the years. Her recent project of finishing, winterizing, and creating an off-grid home for herself and her canine companion Tov is truly an undertaking worth celebrating!

City life isn’t for everyone, as lovely as Saint John is. Tov found that things were just too overwhelming in the city and Miriam wasn’t sure what to do to make things work. She purchased a tiny home that was unfinished and tried to get out to it as often as she could to try and help Tov get the space and nature she needed.

Getting Started

At first, the job was simple; finish the interior and make it comfortable. She is the first to admit that she needed help from others to tackle the scope of work but she borrowed all the tools she needed for the job from our Library and that removed a significant barrier for her to get started.

“The use of driftwood for hardware is inspired!”

When battery-operated tools weren’t enough she would borrow our small generator and fire up the power tools. Over the course of many months balancing work and the tiny home project, it started to come together.

We absolutely love how simple yet refined the level of finish is on this tiny home. It’s about 240 square feet on the interior, so wise use of space and storage is critical. Here you can see a sitting area that also has some built-in bookshelves and a fold-down table for space optimization. Under the back bench seat, there is storage as well.

This feature is another prime example of wise space use. This is the ladder that takes you up to the two lofts so Miriam turned the storage of that ladder into something that looks like a bookshelf.

The kitchen has a unique setup that is truly custom fit to the multi-faceted needs of living in a small space. We love how she built-in natural features like driftwood to use as handles and even into the bathroom area for the vanity that you see below.

When we were out there, Miriam was busy winterizing the tiny home because she had made the decision to move out onto the Peninsula permanently. Part of that meant developing the capacity to go more off-grid for energy needs. Here you can see a simple storage shed that was utilized to the max. Between solar power, rain collection, propane heat/stove, and battery storage this tiny home is built for all seasons.

Ok, there is the practical stuff, which is important. But just as is important are the details that make a place feel like home. Simple accents around this pine coffered ceiling give the space that extra touch.

A Tiny Home Community

Tiny homes may seem intimidating but at the Saint John Tool Library, we have a PHENOMENAL community of people like Miriam and others who love to share their knowledge. Sharing things, knowledge, and resources is something everyone in our community believes in.

“Sharing things, knowledge, and resources is something everyone in our community believes in. ”

So if you have a small project or a large one, you can trust that a membership at the Saint John Tool Library will pay for itself 10x over. One of the most interesting things about this job is that our construction team (the SJTL Build Team) actually worked on this tiny home when it was owned by Ingrid Woodhouse (former owner of Bunkhaus/Pivot Cafe).

In the picture gallery below you can see a shot we took when we first started work on this tiny home, before it was finished. I wish we had captured a shot of the interior before it was finished to show the breadth of that transformation.

Miriam has taken advantage of the space, resources, and community support from her SJTL membership to tackle jobs big and small and her tiny home project is a fantastic example of how the community works here at SJTL, how it impacts people, and how anyone can be empowered to tackle those needed renovations and projects.

Thanks for reading our member story,

Brent

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As many of you know, we are on a mission to Inspire, Equip, and Revitalize our neighbourhoods. That mission includes providing the space, resources, and community support to our members so they can be empowered to tackle jobs big and small.

Our hope is that you will be inspired and come to believe what we believe; that everyone is capable of building something beautiful that fills a personal need and builds up our community along the way.